


Where My Chair Should Be

by Chacw



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:23:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22580164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chacw/pseuds/Chacw
Summary: Dr.Dimb has endangered reality. So how's your day going?





	Where My Chair Should Be

A dining chair is not something you would ever expect to be at the center of an international security risk, but here I was, staring at what could be the end of the world. Dr.Dimb was standing in the center of his dining room calculating the time till the end of the world and all I could do was watch. The cause being his dining chair.  
Dr.Dimb is by no means dim, he’s actually one of the smartest people I know, he’s my physics professor at the local university. I’m not sure when It started but I somehow became his assistant in my free time. He would pay me and help me with my studies in not only science but also mathematics. Sometimes I would reach his lab to find that he stayed awake all weekend building another one of his confusing inventions. I never could get an explanation as to what he was making. He would try to explain it of course, but I think the wires running around his brain have trouble connecting with his mouth.  
It was 3am when I got a call from the Doc. “Hey so, uh you think you could come over?” Groaning I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. “Doc, what’s the problem?” “I’m not sure, and I don’t think I can…” He paused, I knew something distracted him, he wasn’t one to just space out, he may be a bit crazy but once he starts doing something he works hard to stay focused, it becomes almost an obsession.“Hey Doc!” I said, trying to get his attention back.  
“Oh sorry, I uhhhh, I’m kind of distracted here. So can you get here?” “Yeah, yeah, I’m on my way to the lab.”  
“No I’m at my house.” That caught me off guard. “Your house? What did you do Doc?” “Just get here please.”  
I rubbed my eyes and sat up. “OK, see ya soon.” I hung up and stretched, luckily I didn’t have classes today.  
It took about 20 minutes for me to bike to his house, I knew the address well. Too many times I would need to call a cab for him because he stayed up all night. I’m shocked he was able to keep a teaching job to be honest. I looked up at his house and didn’t see anything wrong. No fires, no broken windows, no alarms. It looked quiet and peaceful. I knocked on the front door and it instantly opened up. The Doc looked nervous.  
“Hey Doc, what’s the problem?” I said while looking him over. He was clean, his lab coat didn’t even have a smolder on it. “I’m.” He paused and with his lips pursed he mulled his words over. “I’m missing a dining chair.”  
He stepped aside to let me in. walking in I sighed. “Seriously? That’s it? I’m going to go make a cup of tea, by the time I'm done if you can’t come up with a better reason to have woken me up at 3am. I’m going to take the kettle I left at the lab back.” He looked mortified. “How will I stay awake then? I’m very serious, my missing chair is a very important matter.” “If you say so.” I walked into the dining room to get to the kitchen and froze. The dining room table was covered in electronics and above it floated something black. Walking around the table I couldn’t make out any edges, but there were holes where light passed through it. It was a solid uniform black. It didn’t reflect light, cast a shadow, or even move. I reached up to touch it and hear the Doc scream “Stop!” I flinched back. He continued, “Don’t touch that. It literally destroys anything that touches it.”  
I stepped away from the table and circled around the table towards Dr.Dimb. “Dimb, please tell me that isn’t your dining chair.” Finishing my lap around the table I finally got an idea as to what the shape was.  
"Your Correct. That’s not my chair. That’s where my chair should be.” I blinked my eyes a couple times before saying. “OK, so I’m going to go make that tea, and while we drink our tea you are going to explain what happened.”  
I returned from the kitchen with two mugs of tea to find him dismantling the electronics that were on the table. “Here’s your cup sir, now tell me everything." We sat at the end of the table away from the weird black object floating in the air. “So uh, where to begin.” He said as he stared into his cup of overly sweetened tea. “This all started out as a sort of small side project, and it just sort of started escalating and at the time I thought I should work on it in the lab it got big enough I couldn’t move it. So I didn’t.” “OK, but what was it supposed to do.”  
“Nothing much, it was just going to be an interdimensional portal.” I coughed and almost spat out my tea. Swallowing it down I coughed a couple times before asking, “Interdimensional travel is a small project for you? You know what, I’m not even surprised. Continue the story please.” He shrugged before continuing. “Well I thought tonight I was done, so I went to test it. So I threw a chair into the portal.” He paused for a long moment and looked over at the hole. “It didn’t work out too well.” “OK, I think I understand, but what is that?” I said pointing to the floating black chair thing. “Well when I threw the chair into the portal there was a flash of light and then the machine failed and shut down. I was left with that, from what I understand, it’s a hole where a chair should be.” “A hole?” I asked. “Yeah, it just floats there ominously. I tried pushing it with a stick and now I only have half a stick.” “What do you mean?” “It absorbs or destroys anything that touches it, it just stays there and I can’t find anyway to move it.” “So there’s a hole in reality in your dining room. So what?” “You don’t understand.” If it was just a hole wouldn’t it just have been instantly left behind when the earth continued moving through space? It stayed on Earth, meaning some force is keeping it here. Does this mean gravity effects it? If so will it slowly dig a hole to the center of the Earth? I have this object of pure destruction floating over my table. What do I do?” Hey was almost crying when he finished, “Will I be the one to end the world?”  
“Come on Doc, we’ll figure something out. Cheer up! How about I take you out for breakfast, it will give you time to get your mind off this whole mess.” He sat there silently sipping his tea. “Sure, but let me set something up first.” He walked out of the room and shortly came back with a meter stick. He glued weights to one end so it would stand upright and then he slid it underneath the chair so the end of it vanished. “If this hole is affected by gravity then we’re all dead.” “Ever the optimist.” I said grinning, “Now come on, let's go eat pancakes.” “It’s not even 4am, where are we even going to get pancakes?” He asked as he finished his cup of tea.  
A large smile crossed my face as I said. “Leave that to me.”  
Jenny’s parents owned a popular small diner near the campus. I took a couple tries but I managed to get her to pick up while the Doc drove us over there. “The hell do you want?” She said trying to stay conscious. “Morning Jenny, the Doc realllllly needs some pancakes. Do you think you could open the diner for us?” “Screw you.” she said a little more alertly. “Please Jenny, the Doc think he just doomed humanity.” “Sorry, what?” She was fully awake now. “I’ll explain at the diner if you’re willing to open it up for us.” “Ugh fine,” She said. I could practically see her rolling her eyes through the phone. “Thanks again Jenny.” I said grinning. “You owe me one stupid.” “Yeah yeah, see you soon.” “See ya.” We hung up and I turned back towards the Doc. “See I told you we could get pancakes at 4am.”  
The diner was dark except for the light above the counter and the one in the kitchen, the Doc and I sat in silence as we waited for our pancakes. Jenny came out with two plates a quietly plunked them down in front of us. As she came around the counter she spoke. “OK, now tell me what happened.” “Well, firstly we need to get the Doc a new dining chair.” I said with a small grin. Jenny sat on the stool next to me. “Dude,” She said glaring at me. “It’s not even sunrise yet, if you woke me up to make you pancakes you better have a reason.” “Yeah yeah, chill out.” I said as I took a bite of my pancakes, “Do you want the long story or the short story?” Jenny glanced past me to where the Doc was sitting, he was silently eating away at his pancakes with a worried expression on his face. “The long story.” She said turning back towards me. “The Doc called me at about 3am and told me to get over to his house. When I got there his dining table was covered in electronics and a hole in reality was floating above it. Worst case scenario we’re all dead.” “You seem awfully calm for someone claiming the world will end.” “I mean, if I’m dead it’s not my problem.” “Fair enough.” she said with a small shrug. “So what now?” We turned back towards the Doc who had pulled out a crumpled napkin from a pocket and was scribbling messy notes onto it. We stared at him for a solid minute, he didn’t even notice we were looking at him. “Yo Doc,” I said poking his shoulder. “What are we going to do about the hole?” He paused for a long moment before quietly whispering, “I don’t know.” Jenny and I stared in silence at the Doc for a long moment, eventually Jenny spoke up and said, “So what’s it doing right now?” “hopefully it’s just staying there.” Awkward silence crept back into the room as tension grew. “Well thanks again Jenny, I’ll keep you updated as to what’s happening, enjoy your weekend.” For some reason the awkward silence followed us during the car ride home. I can’t stand it. “Cheer up Doc, I’m sure you’ll figure this out.”


End file.
